FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Apparently it’s pretty cold in Murmansk. Less chilly is Death Nord Kult, the latest release from Old Wainds. They hail from northern Russia, and thus it’s not overly surprising that their brand of black metal is all about darkness, the arctic, and geographical isolation.
Culted’s MySpace biography makes much of the fact that the band’s impressive first full-length album is a “truly collaborative effort across international lines.” One can only hope for more musical cooperation in the future from the jointly Canadian/Swedish band.
For me, anything that Massacre/Denial Fiend vocalist Kam Lee is involved with gets me excited and I am very happy to report that this new Bone Gnawer project is no exception. In fact, it is possibly some of his finest work.
Despite the fact that co-headliner In Flames was playing last on this night, the unforgiving concrete floor was packed with bodies in the moments before Killswitch took the stage, and the joint practically exploded when the five dudes kicked into the tasteful melodic metalcore of “My Last Serenade”, Jones and his rather flamboyant counterpart, guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, leading the charge.
Adrien Begrand reviews the recent Saskatoon stop on the current In Flames/Killswitch Engage tour. Howard Jones, we hope you are feeling better now!
The Corpse of Rebirth is not always an accessible record, but like many of the deeper novels from the historical period that have clearly influenced the band, the time devoted to it is well spent.
Even with all the feedback, distortion and weird sounds this is an album that anyone interested in droning, ambient sounding metal should have a listen to.
As fitting as all three bands were to the evening’s lineup, the honest-to-England truth was that there was only ONE band which could unite every Bostonian degenerate ‘n dreg on this evening. “Hello, we are Motorhead, and we play rock ‘n roll,” was the rallying cry, and no sooner was it uttered by bass assassin Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister then the capacity crowd went absolutely—and predictably—bananas.
(Photo Copyright Mark Marek Photography ©2007)
While Clutch traditionally is known for its forays into hard rock and metal, the all-instrumental Bakerton goes off onto other musical tangents that are also engaging although they can be very different from their main gig. El Rojo finds the group heading succinctly into jamband territory, creating an engaging mixture of funk, blues and classic rock that gives the musicians lots of room to breathe and let their musical chops shine.
This third full length album from Glasgow, Scotland’s Man Must Die is an amazing listen from start to finish.
Despite being an overall disappointing collection, the latest EP from Southampton, UK, sludge/drone doom metal band Moss immediately gets points for two reasons.